


Wait for it

by Geektaire



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: ABO Universe, Dominant Carol Peletier, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, No Smut, One Shot Collection, Past Abuse, Submissive Daryl Dixon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6889861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geektaire/pseuds/Geektaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A/B/O trope meets TWD. Just less smut and just the principle of the thing. </p><p>Carol Peletier is a meek Alpha in an abusive relationship with Beta Ed Peletier. Daryl Dixon is a strong Omega that comes from an abusive Alpha filled home. The two of them meet in the quarry camp at the beginning of the ZA. This is their story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My take on the A/B/O universe… just a lot less smut.  
> For those unfamiliar with this; it’s a fanfiction trope where people are divided in alpha/beta/omega and they fall into the ranks as they would in a wolf pack. People are born or depending on the writer present as alpha, beta or omega during their teen years. It usually involves a lot of sex and a lot of drama because of sex… which this won’t. So maybe not so much A/B/O but more soul mates? But not that either? Ok, so let’s just get on with this and see where this leads me. 
> 
> Also, this story is set as finished because I don't know if I'm going to write anything else for it. I can't handle that many WIP with my ADHD and I'm set on finishing my walking saints fic. So it might go further, it might not. If it does, it will probably be in the way of connected one shots more than a multi chapter fic... 
> 
> Also, this has now been betaed... thanks to the amazing [Onequarterbritish](http://onequarterbritish.tumblr.com/)

 

Alpha women were never easy to marry. That had been drilled into Carol’s head practically since birth. Her father had left her mother as soon as she found out that the Beta was pregnant, and her poor mother had done everything within her power to try and secure Carol’s future. And how you might ask? Well she remarried the first asshole with a little bit of money that looked twice at her. 

Carol’s life had been comfortable financially. She had never wanted for anything, maybe anything other than a place where she could truly call home. Her stepfather, an Alpha like her, seemed to find her disgusting and had berated her over every single thing she ever did. She was never ‘Alpha’ enough for him, she would never find a proper ‘Omega’ because who would chose to be with someone as ugly and as unable to stake their claim or even protect their own, as she was?

It was no surprise when she fell into Ed’s hands, once she logically thought about it as time passed. Her mother long dead, and while trying to get away from her asshole of a stepfather, she had met sweet Beta Ed. The majority of the world’s population fell into the Beta category, and they were far away from the times when being an Alpha and a female was a sign of witchery and would have gotten her burnt at the stake… but that didn’t mean it was still easy for her. 

Ed was safe, he was easy. He may not ignite her veins as she had been taught an Omega would- someone who would be her better half in every sense of the word. But he had taken her away from an awful situation; and at the time, she had been grateful. She would wonder, years later after his beatings had started, if maybe she had confused gratitude with love. If she had forgotten what love, and being loved, by someone really meant.  Maybe she had just let herself be drawn to someone being a little nice to her. Once those thoughts entered her mind, it was too late to pull back. She had a four-year-old and another on the way, she had no one else except her husband of ten years and no money under her name.

The first time she seriously considered leaving him was after her little boy was stillborn. Her little precious boy had perished as a result of his father’s fists during her last trimester. She had seen the looks the nurses sent her way, felt the weight of them as if they were judging. She was an Alpha, and she had failed one of the two most important people in her life. She was everything her step father had always said she was; she was a failed Alpha. So she stayed. 

When the world went to hell, she and her family had joined the quarry camp. She never thought she would feel anything again. She was dead wrong. 

.-.-.-.-.-.-

An Omega. Daryl Dixon was an Omega. The first Dixon Omega in at least three generations, Will never tired of yelling whenever he was drunk and using his youngest son as a punching bag. The few memories he had of his mother were always around his father throwing insults her way. He was a bastard, there was no way in hell a son of Will Dixon was an Omega; she must have cheated on him, that was the only logical conclusion. 

As Daryl grew older, Buck’s words stuck with him. He was not only painfully shy, but after Merle left him to join the army; he became his father’s shadow. Buck didn’t let him finish school, after all Omegas weren’t smart enough to do anything in life. Daryl became the person responsible for the house, and the beatings he got as a result of something not being up to Buck’s standards were unimaginable. The scars on his back and his legs, were nothing to the scars his father left in his mind. 

Merle returned home, and as expected, as the big macho Alpha that he was, he joined in. He wasn’t physical like Will was, although his father knew when to do it since he only did so when Merle wasn’t around, but he still treated Daryl as he was nothing more than the help. 

Daryl Dixon was nothing. He was an Omega that smelled like Alpha because he was surrounded by two of them all the time. He was an Omega no one would ever want because he was useless. He was an Omega without an Alpha, a waste of space. 

Merle was still mourning the loss of Buck, his death still fresh in his mind, when they arrived at the quarry camp. Daryl just nodded when his brother told him of his plan to rob them blind, after all that was all he had ever done, followed whatever orders his brother, his ‘Alpha’, gave him. But that was about to change, and him the least of all expected that. 

.-.-.

Carol noticed him the moment they arrived at the camp. Ed, as usual, was posturing against the other Beta, Shane, as if trying to play Alpha. Carol could smell the pity amount of scent they both sent out, and it was just because of years of suppressing it that she didn’t laugh at them. 

The moment the brother’s walked into the camp, everyone’s eyes went to the oldest one. He was loud, and cared about nothing as he went face to face to Shane.  He exuded Alpha all over the place. But it wasn’t him who took Carol’s attention, it was the younger one. 

He was standing behind his brother, younger than him by a decade at least according to her calculations. He was carrying a crossbow over his shoulder, but instead of being confrontational like his brother, he was standing back, shifting from one foot to the other, looking down while he brought his free hand to his mouth and bit the side of his thumb. Carol wanted to go to him and take his hand out of his mouth. Carol wanted to drag him over and have him stand behind her. Carol wanted to stop the men yelling around them so he wouldn’t look so anxious… Carol simply   _ wanted _ him. 

As if feeling her eyes over him, his head came up and blue eyes connected with blue. She knew that if Ed noticed it she would get quite a beating; but for her life she couldn’t stop looking at him. His scent seemed to travel all across the camp and into her nose, it smelled like the woods and campfire and she knew she would never have enough. His eyes were fixed on hers, and she knew that she was having the same effect on him that he was having on her. 

Ed’s shouts brought her out of her own little space, of their own little space, and back into reality. His name was Daryl she soon learnt as Ed ranted at his presence and his brother’s at the camp later that night. His name was Daryl and everyone seemed to think he was an Alpha. She just nodded along, remembering that there were no other true Alpha’s in the camp and unwilling to share the slightest thing of him with her deadbeat husband. 

That night Carol slept peacefully for once. She could smell him in the air, he was close and that was all she needed then. 

.-.-.-

Her smell wouldn’t let him sleep. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life. Merle hadn’t shut up about the other women in the camp, the blond sisters and ‘Olive oil’ being the main subjects while they had dinner that night. He hadn’t even looked twice at her, and he was glad. 

He had never smelled anyone like her in his life. Usually, the smell of Alphas, both male and female, reminded him of his father and his brother. He had never found the smell truly appealing… until that day. 

He was sure he was right, she was an Alpha, but she was hiding behind a mirror of meekness and obedience to the disgusting Beta she was married to. Her pup was an Alpha like her mother, still too young to give out any sent but all the signs were there. He had been surprised that Merle hadn’t mentioned her, he usually despised the idea of female Alphas since he was as misogynistic as they came. But she was, and her scent would forever be ingrained in Daryl’s brain. 

He knew there was no way he was allowing Merle to hurt them in any way. First thing tomorrow he was going to go out and hunt them some game; he felt the need to show her how good he could be. How much he could provide and even if he was a good for nothing stupid Omega, he would do anything to stay where he could have even one sniff of her enticing scent. She smelled like what he had always thought a real home would smell like.

.-.-.-

The asshole had dared to touch his Alpha. That was all Daryl could think about the first time he saw her sport a bruise in her pale skin. There was something in his chest that was calling him to go and beat the man senseless; and it scared him a little bit. It wasn’t that he had never fought in his life, for an Omega he never let anyone other than his father and brother lay a hand on him, but the need for blood went well further than anything he had ever felt. 

He didn’t though. What hurt the most was to see her try to hide within herself. She wasn’t a big Alpha for everything that mattered, but at the moment she appeared more like an Omega than the Alpha she truly was. He longed to go to her and just be there, at her side. But he didn’t. He was too much of a coward, just like his father and Merle had always said he was. Instead he took off to the woods. She and her pup needed meat, and he knew if he stayed he would kill the bastard for touching his Alpha. And they haven’t even spoken to each other. 

.-.-.-

The feeling of shame Ed’s latest beating brought to her was unlike what she had felt the last few years. After what had happened to her baby boy, nothing had moved her. It had become almost a routine to her. She did something wrong, she got beaten. She did something right, she got beaten. All she could do was try to keep her baby girl out of it. But this time it was different. Something shifted and the air was against her; she had to stop herself from looking up once she smelt his scent. He was across the camp, but she knew as well as she knew where her girl was, that he was watching her. His scent made something tighten in her chest, and she tightened her jaw as her hands shook. 

The need to call him over to her was strong, the strongest she had ever felt over any Omega in all of her 45 years. He was right there, and she could see in his eyes the sadness that she wanted to vanish; she could feel his call and she tried not to, but she knew she was returning it. 

The group got together and decided they needed supplies, and that Glenn, a young Omega would lead them to were the best things were in the outskirts of the city. Carol wasn’t interested in that; she was more interested in the fact that her Omega wasn’t in the camp. His brother sent her a nasty look when he finally got close enough to catch her smell, obviously not happy with the presence of another Alpha in the camp. 

Ed, as usual, did nothing and stayed with them. More of an annoyance than any real help. It took them some hours, but they returned. The same amount that had left, but not the same ones. Merle, Daryl’s brother, was not among the ones that returned. Who did return was Lori’s husband, Rick. 

The man was an Alpha, and unsurprisingly had apparently gotten  into a fight with Merle during the run. Male Alphas were always fighting over the top dog position, and in this case it was nothing new. Her real concern was on his Omega brother. The loss of an Alpha was never easy, being mated or not. Merle and him had spent many years together, and Carol knew Daryl would feel the loss deeply. 

She was unable to sleep that night. After her lovely husband took what he wanted and finally turned around to leave her alone, she stayed awake. She knew what she was going to have to do in the next couple of days, and she doubted she was strong enough to do it. She had never been strong in her life, not once; why would she think she could be strong for the unfamiliar Omega?

.-.-.

The presence of the unfamiliar Alpha made the hairs in Daryl’s arms rise. The man looked nothing like the two other Alpha’s in the camp, but he knew more than one or two Alphas together always brought trouble. 

He stalked the camp yelling out for his brother, and each moment that the older man took to answer made Daryl start breathing harder. “Daryl,” the fact that that asshole Shane was  calling his name made him slow down. His eyes immediately sought hers, finding her standing beside her husband in the shade of the RV. “Slow down, I need to talk to you.”

He kept his eyes on hers as long as he was able, before he turned to look at Shane. “About what?” his voice didn’t let anyone, anyone but her, notice how afraid he was of what the man was about to say to him. 

“It’s about Merle.” At Shane’s words Daryl nodded, looking down as he felt the tears he had always been mocked by his brother appeared in his eyes. “There was a problem in Atlanta.”

Carol moved then, she saw as all the other Beta men started to surround her Omega and she didn’t like it at all. Quietly she slipped from Ed’s side and started making her away around Shane’s back, keeping her eyes on Daryl at all times. 

Daryl noticed by then the movement around him, the fact that the unknown Alpha was at his back made him nervous. “He dead?” he asked as he moved so the Alpha was on his side, and that’s when he noticed his Alpha had moved to his eye line. 

“We’re not sure,” the unknown’s Alpha raspy voice said and Daryl’s eyes went to him. He had been surrounded by Alpha’s all of his life, he was an Omega but he would not submit to that tone from some Alpha.

“He is or he ain’t!” He was pissed, and he was scared. He saw as Shane and the other guy moved closer together, leaving him alone with Carol at his back. The presence of his Alpha gave him courage, even if he knew that she wouldn’t be able to help him much in case of a fight. He was alone in this, as he had always been. 

“It’s more complicated than that,” Daryl felt his skin crawl as the Alpha moved closer to him. Unconsciously he took a step back, towards his own Alpha. The man, noticing his behavior avoided eye contact as he stood there.

“And who the hell are you?”

“Rick Grimes.”

“So what’s the story, Rick Grimes?” He could see the younger Alpha getting pissed off about his lack of manners, but he really didn’t give a shit. 

“Your brother was a danger to us all,” Carol saw Daryl’s body react as she took a step closer to his back. He was ready to attack, and there was nothing she could do to either help him or stop him. “So I left him handcuffed him to roof.”

Daryl felt like all the air had been taken from around him. He turned on his heel, not caring he was giving his back to an unknown Alpha as he walked towards his Alpha. He knew his tears were starting to fall, and the expression on Carol’s face wasn’t helping with his pain at all. She looked as emotional as he felt. “Let me process this,” he muttered as he moved closer to her. His hands were shaking with anger, and he knew he couldn’t touch her like that. She wasn’t even his to start with. 

“You handcuffed my brother to a roof?!” He let his anger win over his need for consolation. He turned and approached Rick, knowing that even if he was an Omega he was a good enough fighter to kick that man’s ass. “And you left him there?!”

Carol didn’t know what to do. She wanted to touch Daryl, try to calm him down; but she knew that if she did that everything would fall down. Ed would know. And she wasn’t sure Daryl even wanted her like that, if he would ever want an Alpha who would never be able to protect him. 

She saw it before it happened. The moment Rick opened his mouth and accepted what he had done, her Omega forgot about everything but the loss of his family. Daryl threw the string of  squirrels he had brought back from his hunt at Rick.  Just before he charged against the unknown Alpha; Shane tackled him to the ground. 

There was truth in Ed’s words. She was nothing, she was a waste of space most of the time, she was a pushover. But when Shane Walsh and Rick Grimes touched her Omega, in that moment Carol Peletier found something she had lost. In the grunt of pain and the expression of terror in her Omega’s face, Carol Peletier found herself once again. 

Shane didn’t know what happened. One moment he was putting Daryl into a chokehold after the man had pulled a knife on Rick and him. The next thing he knew he was lying in the ground while the other man coughed while trying to breathe again. Shane looked up bewildered to see who had been the one to tackle him to the side and away from Daryl; only to see Carol Peletier rising from the ground where she had fallen after her tackle. She glared at him, glared at everyone around her as she turned and went to Daryl’s side. 

The man was lying on the ground, trying to catch the breath that had escaped him after his tussle with the former cop. He felt a hand on his back, and was surprised when his usual instinct of flinching didn’t come to pass. That was the moment he was finally able to breathe through his nose, only to be surrounded by her smell. 

Carol didn’t care about anything else but her Omega in that moment. She knew her daughter was safe, so nothing else mattered but the man lying in front of her. “Hey,” she said softly as she pulled on his shoulder to make him turn, “breathe, slowly.”

The sound that left Daryl’s mouth was muffled by her knees as he turned and burrowed his face into her lap. She was kneeling beside him, and he just threw his arms around her waist; not caring about the rest of the camp. Her other hand moved to his hair, running it softly through it as she let him hide in her; in her presence. 

Slowly the people around them started to move. Rick swallowed down as he saw the picture in front of him, unable to keep his eyes away from it. He needed to make it right, and he would. But first, he had to let the man’s Alpha take care of him. There would be time for something later, he was sure of it. 

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Right after we left off... ADHD is being a nice chap and it's letting me write a bit. Unbetaed (again)... so all mistakes are my own.

Everyone faded around them. There was nothing else for Carol but the Omega in her arms. It took her a couple of minutes to realise most of the people had left them, with Rick standing guard a few meters away. As she looked up she saw Sophia standing a few feet away, as if wanting to approach them but unsure probably because of the scent she was sending out. 

With a smile she pulled her hand from Daryl’s hair to pull her daughter closer as she reached her side. 

“Mamma?” Sophia asked softly as she kneeled beside her mother, her young Alpha instincts wanting to comfort the distressed Omega, but also knowing she had to follow her mother's orders. 

Daryl whined softly as he first felt her hand leave his hair; and then at the presence of the unknown person. He relaxed once again when he felt Carol’s hand back over his head, with a smaller hand softly copying her movements. His instincts told him it was her kid, and as her kid she was a part of his Alpha and that meant she was his. 

A few minutes more passed like that. After Sophia joined them, one by one the things surrounding them came back into her notice. She knew Ed wasn't stupid, she knew he was not going to be around them at that moment. Her Omega was fierce, and Ed was a coward. As long as Daryl was around them, he would leave them alone… for how long, they would see. 

Slowly Daryl started to come back into himself. He first noticed how her scent was surrounding him completely, and how protected and content he felt even under the circumstances. He finally sat up, trying not to whine when his movements made the hands over him fall away. He wiped his eyes with his forearm, not looking up at the two Alphas sitting beside him; feeling shame start to make its presence know.   
“Hey,” his heart started beating faster as his Alpha’s voice reached his ears. “Don't do that.” Her touch in his hand made him notice how he was biting at the side of his thumb, hard enough he was starting to rip a little bit of the flesh of it. 

He looked at her from the side of his eyes, blushing as he dropped his hand immediately. The smile he got in return made his chest ache, and he wanted to keep that there forever. 

“We'll be here,” Carol saw his eyes look down again as he picked at his ripped pants, “go, get him back and we'll be here waiting for you.” She didn't know what she was saying, all she knew was that her Omega needed to get his brother back. 

Daryl finally turned to look at her. She was even more beautiful up close than he had first thought. The two women were looking at him like he was worth something and his traitor mind dared to hope. “Just be careful” Her words were given with a tad of possessiveness in her voice, and he couldn’t help but nod immediately. 

They didn't know each other, but Carol felt closer to him than to anyone else in her adult life. She nodded at him, and braced herself on his shoulder to stand up. The touch had been natural, like it was the most logical thing. He got up as soon as she was on her feet, putting his hand up to help Sophia stand up too. 

Sophia’s reaction to Daryl offering her hand warmed Carol’s heart. The fact that her little Alpha, who was usually distrusting of everyone put her small hand in the Omega’s bigger one and not only allowed him to help her up, but kept his hand in hers for longer than necessary meant a lot to her. 

Daryl saw Rick stand in the sidelines, and it was then when he noticed the presence of her husband farther back. He glared at Ed from there, as if daring him to say something to them. 

Rick moved to them as they finally stood there, the rest of the people who had been around them stopped pretending they hadn't been looking at them.

“If you're going back for him, I'll go with you.” 

Daryl had spent all of his life around Alphas, and he had spent all that time fighting against them. He had never willingly submitted to an Alpha that wasn't his brother or father but for God he felt the need to submit to the small Alpha by him; and he wasn't sure he was happy with that feeling. 

He grunted his answer, glaring as Glenn, and T-Dog also offered to go along with them. The need to sneer when Shane approached them came natural, and he tried not to smile as he noticed two things. The first one, being that Shane kept sending small looks to his Alpha by his side; the other one that Carol had moved silently so both him and Sophia were standing slightly behind her. 

It wasn't until they started moving towards the truck they had brought back that he noticed what she was doing. Daryl traced the tip of her fingers of the hand she had on her side as he moved past her. Silently she watched as the four men prepare themselves for the rescue mission, keeping her eyes on her Omega at all times. He would come back to her of that she was sure.   
-_-_-_-

Daryl wasn't sure what to feel as they made their way to Atlanta. He had heard everything Shane had told Rick, about how would they leave the rest of the camp unprotected; and all he could think about was leaving his Alpha and her pup unprotected. 

He pondered about what he would find in Atlanta, and what he would do once he had both his brother and his Alpha together in the quarry camp. He would make Merle understand, it wouldn't be easy, but he was sure his brother wouldn't deny him that; or at least he hoped that.

He glared at T-Dog as he sat in front of him. He knew his brother was a racist asshole, but he was still his brother. He was the only Alpha that had cared for him ever, or at least before Carol. As much as he tried to deny it, she had been the first person to actually stand up for him. Her actions that day were those of an Alpha protecting her mate, and he couldn’t wait to get black to her.

Carol was also a problem. Not that herself was the problem more like the asshole she was married to. By the time they had left he was nowhere to be seen, and he just hoped he stayed like that. She was his Alpha, and he would never let anyone hurt her if he could help it ever again.   
-_-_-

Ed had seen them. It wasn't like they had even tried to hide it, but she could see it in his beady little eyes as they followed her around the camp. 

She looked around the camp and saw the looks some of the other men were giving him. They all knew what was going on, but their looks were laced with something else now that her status as an Alpha had been made public. 

She followed the rest of the woman to the lake, joking with them as they washed the clothes of everyone in the camp. Somehow, and she didn't even want to know how, she had ended up washing Daryl's dirty clothes and she had to do everything within her not to grab her Omega’s shirt and burrow her nose in his scent. 

As the girls continued to joke around her, she could feel the storm brewing. It wasn't long before Ed finally had enough and approached them. Making Andrea speak up to him. 

Again maybe it had been the moment earlier with Daryl. Maybe it had just been enough. But the moment Ed grabbed her and started to try and take her away, she fought back. She fought if not with the same strength as how she had taken Shane down, she fought with more fervor than she had in the last eight years. 

Ed was not expecting that. Her first slap landed in his face, and her closed fist hit his nose. She wasn't fast enough though, his first hit the side if her cheek and the impact threw her to the ground. That was when Shane appeared. 

What happened afterwards was one if the worst beatings Carols had seen in her life, at least one that wasn't directed at her. Shane let out all his frustration on the other beta, stopping only when he stopped moving. 

The rest of the girls tries to comfort her in many ways, but her eyes looked at the former beta policeman as he looked at her. There was something there she hadn't seen in a long time, respect. 

They left Ed lying by the lake, someone helped him later back into his tent. That was the last time Carol Peltier saw her husband alive.   
-_-_-

“Daryl,” Rick said softly as he approached him carefully. His voice laced with some of the Alpha natural tone that usually made Omega’s subdue. They had all watched as the Omega crumbled as he discovered his brother's severed hand, how those awful sounds came out of his mouth as he mourned for his older brother. 

Daryl's cries could certainly be heard in the blocks around them, the walkers under them probably making their way to them as they spoke. Rick tried to approach the Omega once again, stopping when he turned suddenly.to see him. “Daryl,” he said his name again. 

The sound of his name seemed to calm the Omega a little, shaking his head and wiping the tears that had fallen down his cheeks as he looked around. T-Dog avoided his eyes, while Glenn looked at him with understanding; neither that he wanted at that moment. He moved away as Rick started to get closer to him once again, no one was allowed to touch him but his Alpha, no one. He quickly pushed down his emotions and tried to think clearly. It was only a hand, that meant his brother was around there somewhere. He had to look for him, and also he still had a promise to keep.   
-_-_-

The weight that had been taken from Carol’s shoulders, as she processed what had happened at the lake seemed to have had a physical manifestation. Sophia, smiled a little as she saw her mother stand up straighter, her head held high. She was young, but she knew that what had happened in her house was not right; she knew that whatever Ed, because she refused to call that Beta her father anymore, had said and done to her mother was not right, and it seemed her mother had taken the first steps to right that. 

The rest of their day was spent in peace and harmony. Ed had retired to what both Carol and Sophia now considered his tent, since there was no way either of them were stepping back in it. Shane had continued to hover, just in the outskirts of them just in case Ed tried anything. 

“I know what you’re doing Shane,” Carol said softly as she saw the Beta once again appear in her line of sight. “Stop it.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said softly to Carol as he kept his eyes away from her. It seemed like the Beta was ashamed of his prior behavior, they all knew what Ed was capable of, and no one had done anything. But since her status as Alpha was noticed, as well as her behavior during that day things seemed to have changed. “I should have done something.”

“Yes you should have,” Sophia looked up at her mother with stars in her eyes. She had never, in her twelve years of age seen nor heard her mother sound so sure of herself. “It seems now that I’m not the Omega you all thought I was, now it is when I deserve the respect any human being deserves.”

The younger man was left speechless, knowing also that there was nothing he could say that would make his, their, lack of action before acceptable. “I won’t let him bother you no longer, ma’am.”

Carol rolled her eyes and took her daughter away towards Daryl’s camp. The two of them had nothing left, but she knew that she had Daryl at her back. The Omega was more capable than most people than she had ever met, she knew they would be alright. But sure he was a mess, she chuckled as she directed Sophia to help her put the camp together, the Dixon brothers would be back, and another fight over her Omega would start. 

Night fell, and soon they were called for dinner. For the first time since they arrived at the camp, they were allowed to fully join the rest of their friends. There was no one hovering over them, making them seat silently as he scoffed at what everyone else talked about. That didn’t mean there wasn’t tension on Carol’s body. It was well after the time she expected Daryl and the rest to be back, she tried to hide it as not to scare Sophia but tension was just emanating from her pores. 

The muffled yell from Amy by the RV was all the warning they got. The moment the walkers started flooding the camp Carol couldn’t do anything else but grab her daughter and try to run. Shane started shooting, as did Morales and the rest of the men. Lori, Maria and her could only cower with their children as more and more walkers surrounded them. 

Sophia whimpered in her arms as she tried to step away from the reaching arms of one of the walkers that had escaped Shane’s gun. Their putrid smell making her almost puke as she moved to try and cover her little girl. She knew what was coming, and she just wished that someone would take care of both Sophia and Daryl for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok guys, sorry for the grammar mistakes once again. There are just some grammar rules of English that my Spanish speakingas1stlanguage brain can't seem to remember... :)
> 
> as always... I'm at geektaire.tumblr.com if anyone wants to chat


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm stuck in my other story, so please feel free to message me with prompts and stuff to try and help me get unstuck. I'm trying to write for this one to see if it helps. I really want to finish a story for once in my life, and the crossover is just such a big project... *sighs*... thanks for reading guys and please let me know if you like it.

Chapter 3

 

Daryl was restless. They had been walking for hours as they made their way from Atlanta back to their camp.  They were all sweaty, hungry and tired; but there was something making Daryl continue to push hard, at an unforgiving pace. 

 

More than once he had almost forced the other three to get up and continue, something was in the air and he didn’t feel like spending any more time away from his Alpha. He needed her, he needed her to ground him in his despair at the loss of this brother; he needed her scent to calm his racing heart, he needed her long thin fingers in his hair and her words in his ears. And he was not willing to wait any longer. 

 

They were close enough to quarry that the feeling of dread in his gut had started to calm, but then the first shot rang out. It was like the shot had been a beacon, and suddenly Daryl was running faster than ever in his life. Rick was barely a few steps behind him, needing to get back to his own family as much as Daryl needed to get back to his. 

 

The carnage they found in the camp once they reached was the things nightmares were made of. 

 

Daryl shot any walkers that got too close to him, the putrid smell making him unable to catch Carol’s scent over it and causing him growl in frustration. Then there was movement at the corner of his eye, and instinct took over. Before he realized what he was doing, Daryl had leaped over a fallen corpse and shot a walker in the head. 

 

Sophia’s screams as the walker fell over her mother and her was the thing that finally made him react.  In two steps he was pulling the body away from them and throwing it to the side. He was definitely not expecting Sophia to leap out of her mother’s arms and into his, making him fall on his ass at the impact of her small body over his. 

 

“Are you alright?” Were you bitten? Scratched?” It was probably the most the young Alpha had ever heard him speak at once, but all she could do was shake her head from where she had burrowed it in his neck as she continued to cling to him. 

 

His eyes searched for his Alpha’s, and he felt like he could breathe again when he finally found them. 

 

Carol was sitting down in the same spot where the two of them had fallen. She looked shaken, but she was alright. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at her daughter in his arms, and the whimper that escaped him as he moved one of his arms towards her was enough of an invitation for her to join him and Sophia in their embrace. 

 

Daryl couldn’t remember the last time he had felt like this. He had Sophia in his arms and he could feel Carol arms around the both of them. He had arrived just in time to save his alpha, one moment longer and he would have lost her just after finally having her. That was all that ran through the Omega’s mind as they continued to sit in a heap in the dark night, clutching each other as everyone around them cried. 

 

It wasn’t until a few minutes later, that Carol was the first one to finally notice things around them. They had mourned, they had rejoiced in being together; but now they needed to get things done. 

 

“Daryl,” Carol said softly, the Omega raising his eyes to hers as he heard his name from her lips for the first time. He bit his lip as the immediate response to her saying his name was his lips started to pull up into a smile. “We need to find a safe place to sleep tonight, can you help us with that?”

 

He looked at her like she was something from another world. The way she spoke to him, like he wasn’t just a piece of trash stuck on her shoe, a dirty Omega who was good for nothing; but as someone who was important enough to ask, not order, for his help? That was something Daryl Dixon was definitely not used to. 

 

He grunted what she took as a yes, unable to really form any coherent words. He started to move away, once he slowly pushed Sophia back into her Mama’s arms. Before he moved too far, he was stopped by Carol’s hand softly touching his cheek. The feeling of her touch, stopped him dead on his tracks. 

 

“I forgot to ask you,” her voice was low, but it was all Daryl could hear. It was drowning the crying from around the camp, as his every cell focused only on her. “I’m a terrible Alpha,” there was a self-deprecating smile that Daryl never wanted to see again in her face, “are you al right?”

 

Daryl closed his eyes, as he tried to keep himself from turning his face and nosing the inside of her wrist. Her scent was surrounding him, and he finally felt like this hellish night was coming to an end. “Don’t say that-” he opened his eyes to look straight at her, “-never say that again.”

 

He allowed himself a small sniff, as she caressed his stubble covered cheek once again, before he finally stood up and moved back to where the rest of the men were working on what was left of the camp. He had arrived on time, he had protected his Alpha; his mate was still alive and he was going to keep it that way for a long time. 

 

-*-*-*

It took a long time for Sophia to finally calm down and stop crying.

Daryl had left them once he made sure they were fine, and after he made sure they were protected enough for his liking. Shane had given him a nod as he moved to stand guard around them and the rest of the women and children, as the Omega moved to what was left of his and Merle’s camp.

 

Most if it was salvageable. The bigger tent- Merle’s- had been completely destroyed in the attack,  but even if it hadn’t been it wasn’t an option since he was not going to put his mate in the disgusting place his brother had called ‘home'. 

 

His own tent was smaller, probably good enough for his Alpha and her pup. And it wasn’t like he was going to sleep that night anyway; he was determined that he was going to stand guard over his women and not allow anyone, or anything to hurt them ever again. 

 

After moving the bodies that had been scattered around ‘their’ camp, putting them with the rest of the walkers, he moved slowly to what was left of Carol’s and Sophia’s camp. He couldn’t help but smirk as he saw what was left of Ed still inside their tent, kicking the body as he moved inside their destroyed tent to see if there was anything he could salvage. 

 

He took what wasn’t spattered with the man’s guts, which wasn’t a lot if he was honest. He shrugged it off, he would get them whatever they needed, and he could share what he had until then. He moved the things to his own camp before going back to his Alpha.

 

Carol was sitting in the ground, by the RV. She had Sophia in her lap, and the girl had finally succumbed to tiredness; she was asleep in her mother’s arms. Daryl tried not to let the fact that Lori, who was sitting by Carol, was looking at him as he approached keep him from doing so. 

 

“Hey,” Daryl muttered,  side eyeing Lori as he approached to crouch next to Carol’s free side. “I have a place for you two to rest,” he could feel Carol’s eyes on him, and he couldn’t meet them. He just looked at the top of Sophia’s head where she had tucked it under her mamma’s chin. 

 

“Thank you, Daryl.” Once again, the Omega in him felt like the biggest thing in the world as he heard his name come out of his Alpha’s lips. He hated it, he loved it. He watched as she looked down sadly at Sophia, moving her hand to nudge her daughter awake. 

 

Before he realised what he was doing, Daryl had put his hand over hers stopping her movement. At her look of surprise, he dropped his eyes again. “I can carry her, no need to wake her up.” 

 

Silence followed his words. It took him a couple of seconds to gather the courage to raise his eyes to hers once again. The look in her eyes wasn’t one of contempt, as he expected. Her eyes were shining, he wasn’t sure if it was with tears or something else, but it was definitely something good. “Sweet Omega,” she murmured for his ears only as she moved the hand that he hadn’t realised he still had in his grasp so she could be the one grabbing him instead. 

 

He blushed like he had never blushed before. He was glad it was dark, and only Olive Oil was there to witness his embarrassment. Slowly, still wondering if he wasn’t about to get told off at any moment, he moved so he could put an arm under Sophia’s knees and the other one around her small back, grunting as he stood up with her in his arms. 

 

“Are you sure about this, you don’t even know him?” He tried to make it as if he wasn’t able to hear, but Lori wasn’t as quiet as she thought she was being when she addressed Carol. The distrust was clear in the Beta woman’s voice and Daryl felt the need to sneer at her. He would never, ever hurt his Alpha or his Alpha’s pup, never. 

 

“Lori,” He was still giving them his back, pretending not to hear. His eyes looked over what was left of the camp, and he couldn’t help but cringe. There was not much left, Andrea was still sobbing over her sister with Dale looking over them. The old man gave him a nod, that just made him look away. “Please never doubt my Omega.” 

 

Carol felt like someone else. She was dead tired, her arms hurt from having carried her twelve year old daughter when the attack started, and she just wanted to sleep. The last thing she needed was one of her friends second guessing her choices. Probably, the first good one she had done in many years. 

 

She looked at where Daryl was waiting for her, cradling her daughter in his arms. The corner of her lips started tugging up- that was her Omega; the man who had a chip on his shoulder bigger than the state of Georgia was holding her daughter like she was a precious thing, and if just for that, she would not have Lori saying anything bad about him. “He’s been nothing but good to us, just try and get some sleep.”

 

She didn’t leave time for her friend to answer, getting to her feet and approaching Daryl. Her hand went to rest on his back like it was the most common thing. His reaction was to immediately tense, so she moved her hand higher until it was touching the back of his neck. His reaction did not go unnoticed, but she understood it was just too much to handle at one time. 

 

With Daryl leading the way, Carol followed him to where his tent stood. Carol looked around, finding their meager belongings scattered around, and the place a lot cleaner than she would have expected after the night they had. 

 

“It’s almost daytime,” his deep voice made the hairs in her arms stand. “But you and ‘phia can get some sleep in the tent, it’s clean.” He was still shy around her, and she wasn’t surprised. She gave him a smile, to which he dropped his eyes again. Silently he moved to put Sophia inside his tent, grunting when his knees made contact with the hard ground. “There’s some food there,” he pointed to a corner in the tent, looking at her over his shoulder. 

 

He got out of the tent, standing up only to tense as he found that he was standing closer to her than he had expected. She was a good three inches shorter than him, but the way she made him feel? He was not sure if he liked it or not. “I’ll keep watch.”

 

She was looking up to him, he could just feel it. He could barely see her, the night was dark and they weren’t in a position to waste any resources; but he just knew where she was. Something soft touched his hand, and he couldn’t help but startle lightly. 

 

“Shhhh,” she said softly as she took his big calloused hand in hers. Without saying anything else, she started moving into the two person tent pulling him behind her. 

 

“Carol,” he protested softly. Even to his ears, his protestations sounded weak. 

 

“Come,” her voice pulled him to her, and he just obeyed. She kneeled inside the tent, not letting go of him, as if knowing that he would run at the first chance given. 

 

Daryl moved behind her, in a way he knew he was strong enough physically to break her hold on him. But that didn’t mean that he wanted to. This one was one hold that he was not willing to break. 

 

She laid in front of her daughter, pulling him until he was inside the tent with them too. It was cramped, it was obvious the tent was not made for two full grown adults and a teenager. But Daryl wouldn’t change it for anything. 

 

“Daryl,” Carol said softly as she finally let go of his hand, letting him make the final choice. 

Carol felt as Sophia moved to curl against her back as she laid on her side. 

 

Daryl took a deep breath, he was kneeling at the entrance of the tent looking down at where his Alpha and her pup were waiting for him. Their scents were mixing in that place that was his, and pride swelled in his chest. He had done this for his Alpha, him, the good for nothing Omega. 

 

Slowly he moved, until he was lying straight as a rod beside Carol. He could feel her soft breast pressing against his arm, and he didn’t know what to do. 

 

“Turn,” Carol said as she pushed his arm forcing him to turn on his side so his back was to her. Tentatively, Carol moved her hand over his arm, until it was gripping his hand. Slowly as if not to spook her, Daryl brought her hand to his chest, as he moved further back into her. And with his Alpha at his back, Daryl’s very awful day finally ended. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> My [Tumblr](http://geektaire.tumblr.com)
> 
> Feel free to pop over and leave messages, prompts, or anything you like.


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